Karat slams laxity in seizing black money in foreign banks
By IANSSunday, January 23, 2011
AGARTALA - The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is not taking any steps to bring back black money stashed away by Indians in foreign banks, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat said here Sunday.
“The Supreme Court is also not satisfied with the central governments inaction over the black money issue, Karat told reporters.
The laxity of the government in unearthing black money stashed (away) in Swiss Bank accounts and other tax havens has been exposed by the recent observations of the apex court, he said.
Unaccounted and ill-gotten wealth, amassed through tax evasion, money laundering and other illegal means, put in Swiss Bank accounts should be confiscated by the Indian government, the CPI-M leader said.
The money should be brought back to India and the “details of the account holders must be made public”, he said.
According to Karat, any delay in undertaking these steps would be unacceptable.
Criticising the UPA governments decision to allow foreign investment in retail trade, the CPI-M general secretary said that the Left parties would resit forward trading by foreign companies in essential items.
He said to agitate against the price rise, a week-long agitation would be held from Feb 3 across the country. A mass gathering would be held in New Delhi Feb 9, in which leaders of nine non-Congress and non-Bharatiya Janata Party parties would participate.
